Cate Blanchett Bought a PS5 and Played Borderlands to Prepare for Movie Role

When preparing for a role in the live-action adaptation of a video game franchise, it depends entirely on each individual actor whether or not they decide to play the game(s) first in order to fully immerse themselves in the content they’ll be bringing to life in another media form. While in instances such as Pedro Pascal taking on the role of Joel Miller in HBO’s The Last of Us didn’t convince him to give the games a go, the other approach is what Cate Blanchett has opted for when taking the central role of Lionsgate‘s upcoming Borderlands movie, as revealed in a new interview with Empire. 

“My thumbs can barely control a phone, but I bought a PS5 and we played each other,” Blanchett revealed during the interview, referencing her husband as her gaming partner. “I wanted to know the limits of the game and what fans loved about the character. I got really absorbed in that whole world. The cosplayers. The YouTube make-up tutorials.”

Stepping into the role of Lilith makes Blanchett the undeniable lead of the Borderlands movie, and Blanchett is a powerful enough performer to portray Lilith’s tough nature convincingly – while there’s a lot of trepidation toward the movie still, what’s never been in-question is whether or not Blanchett will provide a good performance, though there are some massive questions still as to what the Lionsgate and director Eli Roth’s version of the character will be. Regardless, Blanchett clearly enjoyed researching for the role ahead of time, and expressed enjoying having a role in the movie as well in the same interview, simply stating “The gun-slinging stuff was so much fun.”

Lilith is a lone wolf outlaw when she comes to Pandora as a Vault Hunter and one of few Sirens in existence. In the games, Lilith is one of the playable characters in Borderlands, a major character in Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and the deuteragonist of the newest entry to the games mainline franchise, Borderlands 3. We’re already aware of a few key changes to the character thanks to the movie’s pre-premiere marketing materials and official synopsis, including that Lilith’s home planet is not Pandora in this version of Borderlands lore. 

Borderlands, with its surprising (and presumably completely off-base) rating premieres in theaters August 9th.